Head of Service Design & Refurbishment Engineering

About the role

The Head of Service Design & Refurbishment Engineering is a global, strategic leadership role leading the end-to-end after-sales engineering ecosystem, embedding design for serviceability, scaling global refurbishment capability, and driving lifecycle cost, customer experience, and circularity outcomes across the product portfolio.

This role partners closely with New Product Development (NPD), Aftersales, and Manufacturing Engineering and owns strategy and execution—from influencing product design through to repair, refurbishment, and end-of-life value recovery.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Operating Model

• Define and deliver global Service Design & Refurbishment Engineering strategy

• Build the end-to-end after-sales engineering operating model (design → service → reverse logistics → refurbishment)

• Establish global standards across:

• Design for Service (DfS)

• Repair & diagnostics engineering

• Refurbishment & remanufacturing

• Balance global standardisation vs regional execution

Design for Serviceability (Front-End Influence)

• Embed DfS into NPI governance and product architecture

• Define: Repairability targets & serviceability scorecards, FRU strategy (module vs component repair), Diagnostic & tooling requirements

• Influence trade-offs across: Cost vs performance vs repairability vs sustainability

Refurbishment & Circular Engineering

• Build scalable global refurbishment engineering capability

• Define end-to-end processes: Triage, inspection, teardown, root cause, Restoration (cosmetic + functional) , Requalification & resale readiness

• Optimise: Yield, Recovery value, Component reuse

Service Readiness & Lifecycle Delivery

• Own service readiness for global product launches

• Ensure: Repair processes, tooling, documentation, and spare parts, Diagnostic capability and training readiness

• Drive closed-loop learning: Field failures → design improvements

Performance & Business Impact

Own global KPIs including:

• Repair turnaround time

• First-time fix rate

• Cost per repair

• Refurbishment yield & recovery value

• Warranty cost reduction

• Serviceability index

• Drive total lifecycle cost optimisation

Leadership & Organisation

• Lead a global, multi-disciplinary engineering organisation:

• Service Design Engineering

• Repair Engineering

• Refurbishment Engineering

• Diagnostics & failure analysis

  Define:

• Organisation structure

• Capability roadmap

• Global / regional footprint

  Build a culture of:

• Customer-centricity

• Engineering rigour

• Continuous improvement

Cross-Functional Influence

Partner across:

• R&D / NPD → product architecture

• Manufacturing Engineering → build vs repair alignment

• Supply Chain & Logistics → parts & reverse flow

• Customer Service → diagnostics & experience

• Sustainability → circular economy

• Commercial & Finance → business case & recovery value

Transformation & Digitalisation

Lead transformation initiatives:

• Service network scaling

• Refurbishment industrialisation

• Capability relocation (e.g., APAC)

  Drive:

• Digital diagnostics

• Data-driven service engineering

• Automation in repair & refurbishment

About you

Essential

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in consumer electronics engineering/ after-sales engineering/ service operations engineering/ refurbishment / remanufacturing engineering/ manufacturing engineering/ product support engineering

• Proven experience developing and scaling global service or refurbishment capabilities in a complex, multinational environment

• Strong track record of leading cross-functional transformation across engineering, operations and service domains

• Experience influencing product development teams to improve serviceability, repairability and lifecycle economics

• Demonstrated success in building global engineering teams and operating models across regions

• Experience working with internal teams and external partners including:

• repair partners

• contract manufacturers

• third-party logistics providers

• refurbishment suppliers

• component/service parts vendors

• Strong familiarity with product lifecycle challenges in high-volume consumer products, including warranty returns, failure modes, reliability trends, spare parts strategy and technical support models

• Proven leadership experience in service design, manufacturing engineering, or aftersales engineering environments

• Strong understanding of Design for Serviceability (DfS), repair engineering, and product lifecycle management

• Experience working across NPD, operations, and customer-facing functions

• Demonstrated ability to lead global, cross-functional teams and drive organisational transformation

Leadership Capabilities

• Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline

• Able to create structure in ambiguous and evolving environments

• Proven builder of high-performance, globally distributed teams

• Strong influencing skills across senior stakeholders and cross-functional leadership teams

• Highly commercially aware with ability to balance customer experience, engineering feasibility, cost, and speed

• Comfortable operating at both executive and operational levels

• Strong systems thinker with end-to-end lifecycle mindset

• Data-driven, analytically strong, and action-oriented

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills across global cultures

Desirable

• Experience in refurbishment operations or circular economy initiatives

• Knowledge of spare parts lifecycle management and service cost optimisation

• Familiarity with digital service tools, diagnostics platforms, or connected product ecosystems